The Elicitor is the literary magazine of Gloucester (MA) High School.
Enjoy new work selected by the 2016-2017 editors Julia Johnson and Jillian Oliveira. The Elicitor online is updated every two weeks. Thank you to the Gloucester Education Foundation for financial support.

Monday, December 8, 2014

Walking through the halls is like being squeezed into a box. Granted, you’re still moving forward—unless the people in front of you have suddenly decided they are unable to put one foot in front of the other—but suffocated nonetheless. And the air is hot. Your insides are melting because someone has turned the heater just too damn high, and yes it’s winter but some people need to breathe! And those feelings you get, the ones when your skirt’s tucked into your underwear, or your pants are riding too low; those feelings are eyes and those eyes are everywhere and they’re looking and prodding and judging. Take the number of people in any given hallway, then multiply that by two; two eyes, two ruthless, outnumbering and certainly overwhelming eyes, and all you can do is cast your own to the ground and hope to God that your face is at least some slight shade milder than that of the lockers.

Breathe.

You’re in class now. The knot in your stomach loosens. Your mind goes to the subject. You’re fine. Your lungs fill deeply and the boa constrictor wrapped around them has released its hellish grip. To find the rate at which water fills an inverted cone, one must know the formula for the volume of a cylinder. You know it. Remember the formula! The formula is ⅓ r2h. Now solve the equation. And sit up straight.

The bell rings. You enter the hall. Don’t slouch; everyone knows that people with good posture are found more attractive than those who slouch. Suck in your stomach. Fix your shirt, it’s riding up. Keep your chin up. They’re looking at you—smile! Your abdomen grows tight, crushing, compressing the air from your lungs. It makes your head pound. He’s there, look away. Keep walking, head down, don’t make a scene. Act unaffected. Don’t cry. For God’s sake, act normal!

Breathe.

Last class. Focus. The symbolic significance of the rivets is the power they have to hold things together. They serve a purpose. Marlow, Kurtz, the Company, etc. use them as a desperate attempt to hold their ideals together, to keep their morals intact. It’s the glue that holds us. They’re losing that hold. They’re losing control over what they've believed to be true for so damn long. They know now that the unknown is dangerous, it’s daunting and harming and vast and full of confusion. It’s going to break. It’s breaking. They’re losing it— stop tapping your foot! They’re losing that grip on reality, the lines are blurring, the river is compressing, squeezing the life, displacing the water over the banks, expelling everything in it. The dam is broken, the walls have collapsed—no, they've burst open with this animistic imminence. Everything is revealed. People are staring. Everything is revealed.

The Elicitor is the literary magazine of Gloucester (MA) High School.
Enjoy new work selected by the 2016-2017 editors Julia Johnson and Jillian Oliveira. The Elicitor online is updated every two weeks. Thank you to the Gloucester Education Foundation for financial support.

The Elicitor Version 2.017

1. Welcome to the Elicitor blog. As often as we can we will publish something new--a poem, a short story, a photograph, or something else--by a Gloucester High School student. If you have something you would like for us to consider for electronic publication please email it to juliajohnson@gloucesterschools.com or jillianoliveira@gloucesterschools.com.

2. In addition to updating the blog on a bi-weekly basis we are gathering writing and art for a Spring 2017 full magazine issue of the Elicitor. Please submit work (marked Elicitor) toJulia Johnson, Jillian Oliveira, Ms. Eastman in room 3203, or to your English teacher. All submissions are welcome. We want to read what you've written and look at the art you've made.

Contributors

Gloucester Poet Laureate Scholarship

Organization: John J. Ronan

Amount: $250.00 – girl; $250.00 - boy

Requirements: The Poet Laureate Scholarship was created in 2009 to recognize graduating seniors from GloucesterHigh School who show an interest and ability in poetry. Winners need not be residents of Gloucester. In any year, if only one winner is chosen, that senior will receive $500. Applicants must submit a one page letter explaining past interest and activities involving poetry, and three sample poems.